US, Spain and India Purchased N1.9trn Crude Oil From Nigeria

India, United States of America and Spain led other countries in patronage of Nigeria’s crude oil, spending a total of  N1.9 trillion in the first nine-monthsof this year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS.

NBS, in its Foreign Trade Statistics for the first, second and third quarters of 2016, also revealed that 12 other countries emerged top destinations for Nigeria’s crude oil grades, as they spent N3.245 trillion on the purchase of Nigeria’s crude oil in the period under review.

The other countries, according to the NBS reports are Netherlands, France, South Africa, Brazil, China, Italy and Japan. The rest are Canada, Indonesia, United Kingdom, Germany and the Ivory Coast.

Specifically, in the first quarter of 2016, the countries, with the exception of Ivory Coast, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Canada and Germany, staked N624.6 trillion on the purchase of Nigeria’s crude oil; while in the second quarter of 2016, with the exception of Ivory Coast, United Kingdom, Japan, China and Brazil, the countries purchased N1.3 trillion of Nigeria’s crude oil.

In the third quarter of 2016, the countries with the exception of Germany, China, Italy, Japan and Canada, purchased Nigeria’s crude oil valued at N1.34 trillion. The top three destinations for Nigeria’s crude oil export, India, US and Spain, accounted for 58.21 per cent of total crude oil purchased by the 15 countries in the nine-month period.

Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru, had a couple of days ago, said it was not true that Nigeria’s crude oil grades are stranded and that China was the only buyer of Nigeria’s crude oil. Baru , who was speaking at the bid opening ceremony for the sale and purchase of Nigerian crude oil grades for the 2017 fiscal year, said;

“There have been speculations that we are struggling for market. That is not true. Nigerian crude has continued to earn premiums and it is hot cake all over for refiners. “Because of the light nature of the crude, it induced very high yields on the valuable products that you produced from crude oil. Nigerian crude continues to maintain market. In fact, contrary to a lot of speculation that a lot of Nigerian crude goes to China; it does not. Most of them are consumed and refined in India and Europe. Particularly, this year and last year. Most of Nigerian crudes end up in European refineries.”